About the 21st Century Schools Project

"21st Century Schools" is a regional programme funded by the UK Government, designed and implemented by the British Council from October 2018 to May 2022. The goal of the programme is to improve digital literacy, critical thinking and problem-solving skills (CTPS) and programming among children aged 10 to 15 throughout the Western Balkans and to create an educational environment that stimulates students to be innovative, able to use the potential of new technologies in their future work places and thus contribute to the economic development of the countries in the region. The program was implemented in partnership with educational institutions in the region.

As part of the program, every school in the Western Balkans received a certain number of micro:bit devices - pocket computers that children can program and use to solve everyday problems within various school subjects. This device allows students to learn in a fun, interactive and innovative way.

After the successfully implemented program in the Western Balkan region, and at the request of the relevant ministries of education, the British Council allocated its own funds to continue the project in Serbia and Albania from August 2022 with a focus on classroom teachers and pupils aged 6 to 10.

“As soon as they took the micro:bit in their hand, their imagination gone wild, they started asking questions, “what if we try this?”, “what if we connect the micro:bit with this?”, “what would happen if we do this?”. That is the key, learning to solve non routine problems. Children are becoming creative and in my opinion that is very important.” *– Teacher, Serbia*

Where did it start – Story of the bravest schools

The pilot project „21st Century Schools“ was implemented in cooperation with BBC micro:bit education foundation during 2017 and 2018. It involved 135 schools and 26 000 students across the Western Balkans.

During the pilot project, 1180 teachers were trained in how to apply new skills teaching using micro:bit device.They all went through five days of induction training on how to introduce three skills (Critical thinking, problem solving and coding using the micro:bit) in their teaching and learning process. Support was provided by 17 National Core Skill trainers, trained by British Councils in-house experts and Micro:bit Educational Foundation staff.